News
More than 60 members of the faculty gathered yesterday afternoon to discuss concerns about the plans for the 125,000-square-foot Berry Library, with most of them expressing their unhappiness with the library's current design.
Many who attended the meeting in 13 Carpenter Hall said they would ask to speak in front of the Board of Trustees in order to appeal for changes in the exterior design of the building.
Several members of the Design Review Committee -- the committee of professors and administrators which advises the Trustees on architectural decisions -- spoke, with all but one saying they oppose the current designs of architect Robert Venturi.
College Provost James Wright said the Trustees agreed in June that construction on the library should begin this spring -- and said the Design Review Committee endorsed the plans in August.
But as both Wright and committee members noted yesterday, not all of the members of the committee were present during the August meeting.
Wright said committee concerns were addressed last summer, but Drama Professor and committee member Margaret Spicer said a memorandum was sent to Wright on June 3 detailing the committee's concerns and said "very little has changed from that design."
Toward the end of the meeting, Art History Professor Joy Kenseth -- an executive committee member of the friends of Dartmouth Library -- said she would send the entire faculty a copy of that memorandum via electronic-mail, along with a description of the ways in which the plan has been changed since June.
Wright said the plans for the Berry Library will be put on display in Baker Library in the upcoming weeks so they can be "viewed by the entire Dartmouth community." The display will include a scale model and color sketches, he said.
The meeting began with Kenseth showing a series of sketches which she said showed the "huge mass" and "barrier-like quality" of the building.
